President, secretary sentenced for theft from Chicago-area AFGE local union

June 26, 2014

Dr. Carl Horowitz is director of the National Legal and Policy Center’s Organized Labor Accountability Project.

CHICAGO – On May 23, James Charleston, former local president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2107, was sentenced in federal court to a year and a day in prison, followed by 18 months of supervised release, for defrauding the North Chicago union.He also was ordered to pay $102,784 in restitution. Charleston had pleaded guilty in January of this year after being charged in July 2012.

Nearly two weeks later, on June 5, Mary Craigen, former secretary-treasurer for Local 2107, was sentenced to 90 days of home confinement, two years of probation, and 200 hours of community service for theft. She also was ordered to pay $8,975 in restitution. Craigen had pleaded guilty in November 2012 after being charged four months earlier.

Ex-Local 2107 Vice President Jacquelyn Pugh-Rodgers already had pleaded guilty in March 2013, and was sentenced that July for mail fraud exceeding $35,000.

The actions follow an investigation by the U.S. Labor Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards.